Rounding Third Softball

Augustana (21-3) has stayed in the stop spot in this weeks NFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Vikings made it unanimous picking up all 16 first-place votes.

Rank	School	Points	2021 Record	Last Poll
1	Augustana (16)	400	21-3	1
2	Valdosta State	380	25-3	3
t3	North Georgia	358	22-4	2
t3	UT Tyler	358	25-5	5
5	Indianapolis	328	25-2	7
6	Texas A&M-Commerce	311	23-10	4
7	Lincoln Memorial	306	29-4	8
8	Rollins	294	10-1	6
9	Young Harris	271	22-7	9
10	Oklahoma Christian	255	27-5	13
11	Concordia Irvine	239	17-8	14
12	West Texas A&M	204	24-10	10
13	UAH	184	21-8	15
t14	Grand Valley State	177	23-5	17
t14	Saint Anselm	177	12-2	16
16	Central Oklahoma	173	24-8	18
17	Texas A&M-Kingsville	159	22-9	12
18	Minnesota State	125	17-6	20
19	Colorado Mesa	108	23-1	19
20	West Florida	96	24-10	21
21	Winona State	84	19-6	11
22	Southern Arkansas	59	18-6	24
23	Auburn Montgomery	44	21-5	RV
24	Rogers State	30	21-11	22
25	Northwest Nazarene	23	22-8	RV

New to Poll: No. 23 Auburn Montgomery, No. 25 Northwest Nazarene

Dropped Out: No. 23 Kutztown, No. 25 Saint Leo

Receiving Votes: Shepherd (20), Lubbock Christian (14), Western Washington (8), Saint Leo (4), Trevecca Nazarene (4), Biola (1), Georgian Court (1), Kutztown (1).

Oklahoma (30-0) has now made it seven weeks in a row sitting atop the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Sooners are once again unanimous receiving all 32 first-place votes.

Rank	School	Points	Record	Last Week
1	Oklahoma (32)	800	30-0	1
2	UCLA	768	22-2	2
3	Alabama	702	31-5	4
4	Oregon	686	27-5	3
5	Florida	683	30-4	5
6	Washington	616	31-5	6
7	Texas	595	31-3	7
8	Arizona	585	24-5	8
9	Florida State	564	27-6	9
10	Arkansas	504	33-5	t10
11	Oklahoma State	476	32-5	12
12	Kentucky	401	28-7	t10
13	Arizona State	394	25-10	13
14	Louisiana	392	31-6	14
15	Virginia Tech	355	25-6	15
16	LSU	310	24-13	17
17	Clemson	296	26-4	18
18	Missouri	244	29-9	19
19	Tennessee	206	28-6	21
20	Georgia	204	25-8	20
21	Duke	186	27-9	16
22	Michigan	113	16-4	23
23	UCF	85	29-9	24
24	Minnesota	73	19-5	RV
25	Wichita State	61	28-5	RV

New to Poll: No. 24 Minnesota, No. 25 Wichita State.

Dropped Out: No. 22 Northwestern, No. 25 Texas State.

Receiving Votes: James Madison (38), Northwestern (16), Fresno State (12), Auburn (9), Miami University (6), Ole Miss (4), Texas A&M (4), BYU (3), Troy (3), Western Kentucky (3), Cal State Fullerton (1), Liberty (1), South Alabama (1).

Just under 100 days from the Tokyo Olympic Games, Team USA kicked off a training camp today in Vero Beach, Florida at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. The U.S. Women’s National Team will play a four-game series against Team Italy April 15, 17, 19, 21 which is also in the Sunshine State training and competing in preparation for Tokyo, and a 10-inning exhibition contest against nationally ranked University of Central Florida on April 20. Team Italy will also travel to Ft. Myers for exhibition contests against Team Canada during their visit stateside. Team Canada has been in Florida since last month training and playing exhibitions contests against collegiate teams. Softball leads off the Tokyo Olympic Games on July 20.

A perfect game with 21 up and 21 down is one huge accomplishment; striking out all 21 batters faced is something else entirely. That is exactly what North Texas Pitcher Hope Trautwein did against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday. Trautwein a senior for the Mean Green had the first perfect seven-inning game in NCAA Division I history with every out being a strikeout in the 3-0 victory. Two other pitchers have had 21 strikeouts in a seven-inning game. California’s Michele Granger did it in 1991, while Alabama’s Alexis Osorio followed 28 years later in 2018. However neither were perfect games.

The NCAA Division I Council will meet this week and are expected to vote to end the current dead period that has lasted the last 15 months by June 1. However, what that will look like is still to be decided. There are two models that will be considered. One would allow each respective sport to pick up their normal designated recruiting calendar on June 1. The other would be a hybrid model that would phase in what has been called a “modified quiet period”. While what could be “modified” about it remains to be seen, in the second instance programs would be allowed to bring PSAs to campus and hold institutional camps but would still not be allowed off-campus to recruit/evaluate prospects or work non-institutional camps. The National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) had joined a coalition of other sports governing bodies last month in requesting all recruiting activities resume starting April 15. RTS has learned however there could be “backroom” support from the larger DI institutes for the quiet period model as it would allow them to stay on-campus and bring all prospects to them while also cornering the camps market.

Linfield Coach Jackson Vaughan picked up his 700th career coaching victory in a doubleheader split with Lewis & Clark on Saturday. Vaughan has coached the current DIII No. 1 ranked Wildcats for 20 seasons amassing a 700-174-2 record.

Sources have confirmed to RTS that Fresno State Head Coach Linda Garza has taken a leave of absence. The same sources confirm the “leave of absence” seemingly stems and involves student-athlete treatment and welfare within the program. Garza did not make the trip to Colorado State for the Bulldogs conference series this weekend. Fresno State is currently 22-7 on the season and 8-1 in Mountain West Conference play tied for first-place.

RTS has obtained the NCAA Memo sent out to Division I member institutes on the pre-selection processes that will now take place for the regional and super regional postseason rounds. While baseball has been pre-selecting their regional sites for sometime now, this is new to softball. The pre-selection of the 16 regional sites wouldn’t seem to cause any issue with a team bidding and then not being selected to postseason while still being required to host. The eight super regional sites however could be a different dynamic where two teams could play at a neutral site if the hosting team does not advance past the regional round. While the “safety” of student-athletes seem to be the rallying cry for NCAA in making this move to create a “bubble” for a hosting site, it seems to be a safety issue for just Division I. No such pre-selection process option has been given to Division II and III at this time. That’s even more peculiar as DII and DIII have eliminated their super regional rounds this year due to pandemic concerns and will host only regional rounds with 6-8 teams per-site with the winner advancing to their respective eight team National Championship round. NCAA seems to be taking many more “safety” protocols for DI through this pre-selecting of sites for four team regional rounds and two team super regional rounds.

Gardner-Webb has announced that longtime head coach Tom Cole has stepped down. Cole coached the Bulldogs for 20 seasons and is the program’s winningest head coach with 417 victories. With the odd timing of the departure, Associate Head Coach Lani Ries will lead the program for the remainder of the 2021 season.

University of Montevallo Head Coach Lindsay Vanover has resigned effective immediately. Vanover was the first coach in program history dating back to its launch in 2015. Sources have come forward saying the resignation stems from internal issues within the program and among the staff. Montevallo is currently 11-16 on the season including a 6-11 Gulf South Conference record. Assistant Coach Whitney Hawkins is still listed as an assistant on the coaching staff roster, while Associate Athletic Director Erik Maas has been labeled as “administrative oversight”.